UCSD PROFESSOR WINS $100,000 VILCEK PRIZE

February 3, 2018 (San Diego) -- University of California professor Teddy Cruz, an immigrant from Guatemala, has been awarded a $100,000 Vilcek Foundation prize for designs that make cross-border communities more inclusive and equitable.

Cruz, an architect and urban planner, is a professor of public culture and urbanism at UC San Diego, the co-director of its Cross-Border Initiative, and director of design at Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman.

"While federal policies and legislative priorities fluctuate and change, we believe that one thing will always remain constant—how integral immigrant contributions are to American primacy, both now and historically," says Joyce Li, Communications Manager at The Vilcek Foundation. "Thus, we are pleased to announce the immigrant winners of the 2018 Vilcek Prizes, this year awarded in architecture and biomedical science.

Cruz received Vilcek Foundation Prize architecture in the Arts and Humanities category. The Vilcek Prize in the Arts is awarded in rotating disciplines. Previous disciplines include music, film, culinary arts, literature, dance, contemporary music, design, fashion, theatre, and fine arts. The Vilcek Foundation also awards corresponding prizes in the field of biomedical science each year.